Stuck in Thunder
by Afleurdelis
Summary: For a while there has been a calm. Interrupting the peace, a new breed of demons from the makai become hard to control. Meanwhile a girl wants to become a friend to Hiei but he cannnot say the same. HieixOC, HieiOC
1. Under the Bridge

Lightning struck through the sky followed by the clash of thunder milliseconds later in the middle of the city park. A few people who had been admiring the earlier time of the perfect day scattered out of the park as fast as their legs could carry them.

Aggravated by the disturbance to his peaceful rest the fire demon opened his right eye as he looked around. Sitting in a tree would not be the smartest thing to do in the middle of a thunderstorm even if he could stand the electrocution. Knowing this he opened his other eye and laid against the trunk on his branch as he waited to make a prediction for whether or not the storm would get worse.

Another bright bolt in the sky answered his question a moment later and he descended from the tree with a single jump. The thunder did not scare him in the least but he would rather keep himself safe as the fox had pestered him about before. Staying safe is more important at times than an ego but he would never admit to taking as advice.

A peaceful walk would be nice as all of the humans would have all left the park by now. After several minutes of moist air brushing against his face a crash hit the sky lighting it up as if it were the sun itself and rain poured down. He frowned and brushed bits of water out from his hair and continued walking. Finding a nice place to sit where he could be dry was all he looked forward to now.

Several minutes of walking through nothing but trees and flowers passed by and Hiei was drenched as if he had just jumped into a lake. He recognized this part of the park and soon he would be on a pathway that lead to an old stone bridge over the cobblestone pathway that he could rest under. Increasing his speed, he rushed to the bridge and lied under it a few moments later. He brushed his hair free of the water that clung to it as best as one could do since he disliked the uncomforted feeling of being wet.

Nothing would come by in this sort of weather. It was pouring and the air itself felt wet and unpleasant. He leaned back and sat under the bridge closing his eyes to rest. Several minutes passed in serenity as he was left alone but then he heard human footseps approaching. He would normally not care as most of the time he was in a tree and away from sight of anything. Glancing to his left his eyes met with the human walking closer to him.

A girl appearing somewhere in her mid to late teens walked by at sat across from him under the bridge. She was just as drenched as he had been minutes ago yet she didn't seem to mind it as she simply leaned back. He was about to look away from her when she smiled and waved at him yet this only delayed him for a moment and he turned away. The girl frowned and shied against the wall and said nothing to him.

Several minutes passed before she made another gesture to him. "What brings you out here?" Hiei turned to look at her, mildly surprised that she spoke to him. He could sense that she was trying to pull an answer out of him yet he wanted to avoid conversation with her.

"Nothing." The answer was short and simple. She should not have anything more to say after that.

The girl grinned. "Oh. That is nice." A look away from her and she would get the hint that the conversation was over. A few silent moments passed by before she spoke again. "Do you like the rain?"

Hiei gave her a quick look, suspicious as to why she pestered him again. It was possible that she was blind as she could not see that he wanted to be left alone and desired no interaction with her. "Not particularly." The answer, again, was simple and hard to reply to.

However, the girl seemed to ignore the hint he gave her that he wanted nothing to do with her. She grinned again. "I like the rain." She paused as if testing to see weather or not he would answer. The grin was kept on her face as she folded her hands over her knees and rested her chin upon them. "It's sweet, you know?"

Still the fire demon gave her no answer other then a cold glance. He could not see how rain could be sweet, wondering if it meant something to humans in an odd way that he didn't understand like many of their complicated and foolish emotions.

The girl looked outside and watched the rain form quick puddles as water began to run under the bridge in small streams. "Just... peaceful and calming. It can send you right to sleep."

He tried ignoring her again but he didn't seem to be able to block her very well. Being in solitude most of the time he didn't need to block the out loud thought of stupid humans. This one was too 'sweet' as they called it and most likely would be an easy meal for any demon in Makai.

Her sharp turn, which was more like a jerk, to look back at him surprised him. "Don't you think so?"

He gave her another glance, wondering how much more persistent the girl could be. The look on her face didn't seem to change at all. "No."

She looked at him, relaxing more as she leaned against the bridge wall and hung her wrist over her knee. "You don't talk much, do you?"

He frowned as she continued to go on, this time making a personal comment. Perhaps this time she would get the hint if he gave her even less of a reply and he refused to look at her in annoyance. "Hn."

She laughed softly at him and then grinned again. Human laughter was such an annoying thing although he couldn't even find what was so funny. Nothing about his annoyance with her persistence or his silence was at all amusing. He gave her a sharp look that was close to a glare as if daring her to laugh at him again. "What is so funny?"

She smiled, looking away and off to the distance again. "Well, you don't talk. It's like you don't like to talk or something."

He turned away has he let a small, short laugh go by. Her ignorance was just too entertaining. "Not to you."

"You're mean," she said with a smile. He raised an eyebrow as he looked at her. She didn't look the least bit offended. He refused to smile to show that he might take her light-hearted statement as a compliment and leaned back.

Another bright ray of light hit the ground and the Earth seemed to rumble as thunder sounded, breaking the calm and serene nature the air disturbed by nothing but the rain had. The storm did not seem to be ending anytime soon.

"Isn't lightning so pretty?" she asked, turning to him again wearing the same smile.

This time he didn't move or even look at her, expecting the same annoying routine from her that she was playing for the past few minutes. Without giving her question much thought he answered her. "No." He tried harder to block her, although the thought of her speaking of how lightning was so peaceful when it causes such a loud noise had been an amusing thought the moment before he discarded it.

She grinned again. "I think it is. It's like... it's like some sort of enchanted fireworks. With a loud explosion and a brilliant light show as it illuminates the sky."

Hiei grunted. Lightning was merely lightning, an aspect of nature, and he didn't care much for it weather it was 'enchanted fireworks' or not. The girl just smiled as she relaxed.

A few moments passed before she looked at him. "What is your name?"

Hiei paused. Why she would want to know his name, he didn't care. "Hiei." She laughed again. Immediately he demanded an explanation for the dreadful noise she was making, wanting it to cease as soon as possible. "What is so funny?"

"You're named after a mountain. I never met someone named after a mountain before. Nice to meet you, Hiei." She paused, still smiling and she shifted around a bit. "I'm Natsume."

"I don't care." Perhaps now she would get the hint.

However, her expression failed to change even in the slightest to a frown. "That is fine. It still is nice to meet you."

Several minutes passed by in silence. Natsume sat on her end of the bridge while Hiei sat on his and for this Hiei was thankful. He was considering killing her if she came close enough to him although explaining it to someone would be a hard task as he was not allowed to kill humans.

Time continued to pass until neither Natsume nor Hiei spoke to one another for what seemed to last an hour. As the storm seemed to be passing over the rain falling was thinner and lighter and came to only a few scarce misty drops. Down the road of the stone bridge, partly in the distance, a redheaded figure walked close by. He seemed to know the area well enough to navigate as he scanned the area almost looking for something. A subtle smile came across his face as he found who he had been looking for under the bridge and approached casually.

"Hello, Hiei," he said, barely looking down at the sitting Hiei as he rested his hands in the pockets of his pants.

Hiei paused before standing up, not even looking up at him although he had been shorter. "Hello, Kurama," he replied in monotone. He hadn't really cared weather or not he said the boy's demon name in front of a human although Kurama had told him more than once to do so.

Natsume stood up and walked over to the two of them with a smile and a friendly wave. "Hey."

Kurama turned to look at her less than mildly surprised. Although he had seen her as he walked by he did not take her presence into account nor did he expect her to speak to him. Nonetheless he smiled politely in return. "Hello."

Hiei looked up at Natsume and then back to Kurama, remaining speechless. Perhaps Kurama would drive her off and he would have to say nothing, or at least talk to her until she went away. Talking to humans was something Kurama did daily, surely there were more people like this that he only spoke to once and never again. Perhaps this had been normal for humans.

Natsume looked back and fourth from the two of them as she paused before speaking again. "Are you two brothers?"

Kurama shook his head. "No. Why do you ask?"

Natsume shrugged. "Well, Kurama and Hiei are both mountains. I never met anyone with names like those before, so I thought you might be related. I guess I was wrong, then." There was a long, awkward pause before she said anything again. "I'm Natsume. Nice to meet you."

Kurama nodded politely, and kept the same smile. "I am Shuiichi."

Natsume raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought he called you Kurama."

Kurama shook his head as he chuckled. "It is just a nickname, I used to live near Mt. Kurama and that is how I got the nickname. I hold no ties to it."

Natsume nodded, the confusion gone from her face. It was clear to see that she was convinced by Kurama's white lie. "Oh. Okay, Shuiichi."

A long, awkward pause hit the conversation while no one said anything. Sensing this Kurama sought this as his time to leave. "Well, it was nice speaking with you, Natsume, but I'm afraid we must be off."

Natsume nodded. "Oh, where are you going?"

Kurama paused before answering her. He had expected her to just leave but instead it seemed as if she wanted to hang out with complete strangers. "Oh, just going home."

Natsume grinned at them. "I'll come with you, or at least walk with you until our ways part." Hiei frowned. In his opinion the girl didn't seem to have any other purpose but to be clingy and annoying like the rest of the humans.

Kurama shrugged, but still kept a polite smile. In all honesty he had not wished for her company, yet he did not mind it. "I suppose that would be alright."


	2. The Makai Morph

Natsume had finally departed, leaving Kurama and Hiei in front of the Minamino residence. The shorter of the two looked quite bitter, crossing his arms as he leaned against the building. The past ten minutes walking with that _thing_ upset him greatly. Clearly _it_ must have been rather dense if _it_ couldn't take a hint from him to leave his presence as he clearly did not want her there.

Kurama merely shrugged off the fire-demon's displeasure. Hiei was upset, although Kurama knew that many aspects of humans seemed to bother him and he would forget about Natsume in a while anyway. What they had to focus on was a meeting with Botan, and it turns out that she was late by a few minutes by now. "Did she really upset you that much, Hiei?"

Hiei glanced at Kurama, giving him a slight cold glare and then turned away promptly. "Hn. I don't see why she wouldn't just leave already. She had no business talking to me."

Kurama shrugged. He didn't care much for her either. As interesting as she might have been, he really could care less about getting to know more people. "We probably will not see her again in any matter."

A few minutes later it started to rain again, and the blue-haired ferry girl came running up to them. "Hey, you guys! I'm sorry I'm late,I didn't think it would take me this long to get here." Kurama simply nodded as Hiei looked away. "Anyway, about the assignment I have for you. A rather odd A class demon slipped through the border and it needs extermination."

Kurama looked confused. "How could that have happened? As far as my knowledge goes, that is impossible without opening up the barrier."

Botan nodded. "In most cases, yes, however this demon has an ability that we have not seen before. The demon, now identified as a makai morph, has the ability to divide itself into several low class demons. This is how it got through the barrier. At the current moment is is putting itself back together, and this process takes several days. It was undetectable until a few hours ago when rekai picked up an abnormal energy reading. Currently it is only a C class, however at the rate it is growing at we predict that it can reach high A class by the end of today. Kuwabara and Yusuke are already working on it, but apparently no matter how many times they pull it apart it still can pull itself back together. They really need your assistance."

Hiei scoffed. "I don't see why."

Kurama smiled. "Really now, you wouldn't want it to gain enough energy to destroy this planet, would you?"

Hiei glanced back at him. "Do you really need to ask that question, fox?" he replied cooly.

Botan pulled out a map. "It seems to be located on the edge of this city." She unfolded the map, pointing to a mark that she mad on it with a green marker and pointed to the mark. "It should be right here. I'm afraid I cannot give you much more help, at this moment it seems to be impossible to destroy. I will watch from above, so good luck!"

Kurama took the map from her, then Botan stood back. Instantly she materialized her oar and sat on it. The two started off in the direction the marker indicated while Botan sailed into the sky to follow them out of the sight of any humans.

Meanwhile, Kuwabara and Yusuke had great difficulty with the morph. Rather large and boulder-like in shape, it had some transparency and was purple in color. A few stringlike organs meshed inside, yet they seemed to pull away at the exact moment there was an attempt to cut at them from Kuwabara with his sword. The purple mess was cut into two, only to regroup after the human boy passed through it. He frowned and glared at it, letting out a cry of rage as she threw his spirit sword into the ground.

"Nothing works, dammit!" he called out, glancing at Yusuke. "How the hell are we supposed to destroy a blob?"

"How the hell should I know!" he called out, turning from Kuwabara to the morph. For something that looked so harmless and easy to destroy, it sure seemed to put up quite a fight. It didn't even seem to be living, more like a massive ameoba than anything else. "Even Toguro had fucking weak spots, this thing isn't taking _any_ damage!" he then snickered. "At least I found a new punching back though, my old one broke."

Kuwabara grinned. "Hey yeah, now that you mention I have been missing that."

Yusuke paused, looking at the swaying and cooing glob of purple transparency. "Maybe if we try to destroy it before it regroups. If you can cut away most of the goop, then maybe I can have a clearer shot at the string crap inside and it should die."

Kuwabara shrugged. "At this point, I'll try anything. Alright, Urameshi, _here I go! HAA!_" He materialized his spirit sword and ran after the morph, yelling as he sliced through the purple mass, cutting it clean in half but leaving the internal organs scarless.

Yusuke followed up, preparing his hand as she glanced at the mass. The moment it ripped apart he aimed for the section full of organs. "Spirit gun!"

No effect. The blob managed to move all of it's organs out of the way, leaving holes in the mass of goo that quickly filled in. The masses joined together and the blob continued to get bigger, now swinging pseudo arms of goop down at Kuwabara. Kuwabara dodged, scrambling to the side of the morph as he leaned against a tree. He looked mortified at the impression a simple blob made into the ground, at least a two foot impression into the broken ground from a simple swing. It came after him again, swining against the tree and cutting it in half as Kuwabara dodged under it.

"Holy shit! I hate this thing!" he called out, keeping a distance from it as he bent his knees, getting ready to dodge it again. The morph followed up with several swinging strikes of its arms, missing the two as they dodged but making it hard for them to come up with an attack plan while dodging.

Yusuke looked significantly more irritated as it now started to actually attack them. "Where the hell is Botan with Hiei and Kurama?!"

Silence followed his question, then two shadows came out of the wooded area. "Ah, you mean us?" A redhead came out of the forest, a simple grin on his face. The black haired one followed, looking very unamused and seemed to want to do anything else but extermination duty.

Yusuke grinned. "Well, it's about time! What the hell took you so long?!"

Kurama grinned as Botan flew by overhead, swinging as she avoided one of the striking arms. "Ahh! I was a little late getting them the message," she called out. She dodged the arms a few more times, and the demon ceased stretching so high to reach her and focused on Kuwabara and Yusuke again. "Sorry, but now I am sure you can kill this thing."

Yusuke nodded. "Yeah, we'd better. How embarassing to get killed by a freaking blob. So, any plan yet, Kurama? Or how about you, hothead?"

Hiei simply snickered at them. "You look like rats avoiding a cat. How dispicable."

Yusuke paused, pointing at Hiei. "Sick him, morph!" the demon made no reply to follow his order, only to attack Yusuke with two arms. A second arm started to form from the mass. Hiei drew his sword, and Kurama summoned his rosewhip.

Kurama studied the monster for a moment longer, continuing to do so as he gave out his plan. "Try to analyze it during your next few attacks, looking for its weak point."

Hiei stepped forward. "Stand back." Yusuke shrugged while Kuwabara frowned, allowing the short one to try to take over.


	3. Human Tendencies

Kurama readied his rose whip, taking a strike down the middle of the morph. Expectedly it separated into two pieces, the heart of it wavering on the left hand side. He struck it again, wishing to study its movement, only this time to the right with a consecutive attack. It separated twice for him, and then put itself back together.

The red haired boy turned to face his shortest companion, the slightest hint of a smile on his face. He needed to study the demon no longer. First, I will need to you consecutively attack it. Aim as best as you can for the center mass.

Without so much as a reply, Hiei leapt forward, unleashing a series of strikes that were too quick for Yusuke or Kuwabara to follow. Even so, he managed not to even scratch the heart of it.

Sensing a short break in Hiei's attack, Kurama unleashed his weapon, wrapping his rose whip around the somewhat slower nucleus with significantly less barrier of translucent matter to it.

It started to hop on the floor, unable to regain its composure, although it was still unharmed. With a slight pull to the rose whip, it wrapped tightly around the nucleus until it burst. A pile of goop, the only residue left behind, started to hiss and disintegrate before them.

"That's... that's just disgusting," Yusuke said with a frown. He relaxed, folding his arms behind his head.

Kuwabara shrugged. "At least it's dead. That thing was starting to tick me off."

Kuwabara and Yusuke continued about how the other one was more ticked off by it than the first, convince that the other one had less luck with possibly the weakest demon to have suck a high rank, only to be joined by Botan who said neither one of them could figure out what to do and that they were lucky to have Kurama and Hiei along. Eventually instead of bickering, they started to laugh.

Yusuke turned to look towards town, and then back at the rest of the group. "Well, I'm hungry now. That thing made me miss lunch. Anyone else want to get something?"

Botan smiled. "That sounds like a lovely idea. What about that nice restaurant Keiko took me to a while ago?"

Kuwabara snickered. "Like hell we can. We're all practically broke."

Yusuke frowned again. "Well, let's just get some ramen then at Keiko's parent's place."

Kurama nodded. "That sounds fine."

After what seemed like forever to Hiei, the group sat down at some human establishment. Of course, they got lost on the way, ran into Keiko at some point, and ended up going somewhere else since Keiko thought it wouldn't be a good idea to bring Yusuke and company to meet with her parents all at once.

He made sure to sit near the end of the table this time, since one time he managed to be wedged between Yusuke and Kuwabara for far longer than he could stand to tolerate either of them. Across from him was Yusuke, lightly flirting with Keiko as they both whispered to each other and she started to silently giggle as he sported a rather mischievous grin.

He watched the two of them in amusement, not quite sure what was going on. He decided he rather didn't want to know.

On his right, Kurama turned to him, taking his focus off of the two in front of him. "Hiei. Would you like the same thing you had last time?"

He didn't really remember what he had last time, not that he would admit it. It was probably not to his liking anyway, so he simply gave him a "Hn." A moment later he added, "I'll take something spicy this time."

Kurama nodded, and told him that he might prefer one of the meat cuts they had since it came with some sort of spiced sauce. Of all of the things he despised in the human world, yet were somehow strangely charming, he did like the food there over that of his own home, particularly the spicier foods. While demons seemed to refine in more practical matters or necessities, such as weapons, humans seemed take delicacies in less important matters in want over need, like their food. Therefore, human food was far better than he would ever admit, and strangely he actually preferred it.

Eventually the waitress came, and not long after they all had food. Kuwabara nearly choked on his in eagerness, which earned a nasty look out of Hiei.

"What a finish for such a fool."

Kuwabara sent his look right back at him. "Ha ha. Very funny. I could have died right now. How would you feel then?"

Hiei grinned back at him maliciously. "Particularly happy."

Botan stepped in this time. "Well, I wouldn't be. Don't say things like that."

Kurama sighed. "Just take it slowly and it shouldn't happen again."

Kuwabara shrugged. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be just fine."

The rest of the night continued on similarly, as was natural for them, although Yusuke and Keiko tended to stray away from the main conversation and be in their own little world. As Hiei was not one for conversation much, he found himself subconsciously observing them out of strange curiosity. He had never been that way with anyone. Honestly, he doubted that he ever would. It just didn't make that much sense to him. 


	4. Encounters

The morning after a mist filled the streets, which in effect seemed to cause most people to sleep in. Kurama walked around the streets, turning to face Botan, apparently awake during earlier hours than most as well.

"That was really an A-class demon?" he asked her.

Botan nodded. "Yes. It was rather easy to exterminate once you figured it out though, huh?"

He shrugged. "But I suppose there must be another reason it was ranked as an A-class? It was not that hard to dismiss."

"Well, yes. It also was not completely put back together. It can be rather destructive at full power. It consumes nearly everything."

"It is a good thing that it never reached that point then."

Botan nodded. "Yes! Of course! Now, is that really all that you wanted to ask me about?"

He smiled. "Yes. That was all."

"Well, I guess that I better get back to KoEnma-sama. He had a file that he wanted to show me sometime soon." In a moment she had dran her oar out, and sat on it. There was almost no one in sight, and the misty fog limited the vision of the streets would prevent other necessary precautions. "See you around, Kurama."

She waved goodbye to him, and then was off. Since he was already outside, he continued his stroll, only to see that there was someone in the distance behind him. He turned to look and see who it was to find a noticably bright yellow set of sweatpants and sweatshirt with a somewhat familiar face. The girl smiled at him and slowed down to his pace.

"Hello. I remember you. Shuiichi was it?"

Kurama nodded. "Yes. You were Natsume, yes?"

Natsume nodded. "Yes. You remembered."

Kurama shrugged. "It was not that long ago. Are you always up this early?"

"Yeah. I run every morning, if I can."

He simply nodded. He wasn't that particularly interested, but she did seem nice enough from their previous encounter. "That's nice," was his short, honest reply.

She smiled. "I want to become faster. I'm number three overall on the track team right now for Kuroda Senior High."

"Oh really?" She was slightly more interesting than he guessed. It seemed that she just like to chat with people. "Is that school competetive?"

She grinned. "Yeah. It is. We came in second last year, but this year I think we can take first."

"What makes you say that?" It was a little more interesting to talk about something that he did not know so much about.

"Well, I was number one on our team last year, and with the addition of a few freshmen we have quite a few more talented people than last year. Everyone works hard for it, too."

"That sounds like a good combination."

"I sure hope so."

As they came closer to a park bench, Natsume sat down to catch some breath and pulled a water bottle out of her bag. Some sweat clung to her forehead, and all of her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail. She had a round face that wasn't particularly delicate, but it was friendly.

"Taking a break?" he asked her.

She nodded in response, placing her water bottle back in her bag. She checked her wristwatch. "I've been running for about an hour now."

"How long do you normally run?"

"At least fourty five minutes, but no more than an hour and a half. I really want to build up some stamina more, so I am trying for longer periods of time."

Kurama nodded. "That makes sense."

She paused for a moment, and then turned to look up at him. "You know, Shuiichi, I haven't been working on speed as much lately. Think you are up for a race?"

He wasn't expecting a challenge, but he supposed that it couldn't hurt him. However, from what he could gather, his opponent would be tired. "I don't see why not, but aren't you tired?"

She shook her head, standing up. "No, not really. I wasn't running very hard today."

He nodded. "If you say so. Where should we run to?"

Natsume glanced around, trying to find a good marker. "At the end of the this block there is a lamp post." He nodded, indicating that he saw what she was talking about. "How about the first to touch it wins?"

"That seems fair."

"Alright. And we can start from this line in the pavement." She walked over to a cement block, a few feet away from the bench she had recently been sitting on, and lined up behind it. She placed both of her hands on the ground, one knee bent in front, and the other one behind her. She waited for Kurama to get into position before she begin. "We start on go."

"Three. Two. One. Go."

She dashed off far quicker than he thought she could, and he put in more effort than he thought he would have to against a plain human to keep up with her. Despite being a demon in a human body, she was faster than him. He pushed forward in attempt to at least keep up, and started to gain on her, but for the last few meters she seemed to do just the same and gain a little extra speed.

A few seconds in front of him, she grabbed onto the pole and turned around it to face him, leaning against it. He was a bit surprised, as he planned to go a little easy on her, but it turned out that she was a talented athlete. Each one took a few gasps of breath before Natsume spoke up.

"You know, for someone who did not even warm up, you are good."

He nodded. "Oh. Thank you, Natsume. You are very good yourself."

She smiled. "Thanks, Shuiichi."

Admittedly, she was very quick for a human, but there was no mistake that she was anything more than that. She would be no match for Hiei, either, who could move faster than she could even see.

Not far off, Hiei walked around the block to find Kurama. He intended to avoid the meeting with Botan, since he was not as curious about the demon as Kurama had been, and intended to meet up with him later. He walked around the perimeter of the block, until something shocking yellow caught his eye.

That thing was there again. He thought that he had seen the last of it during their last encounter, but it seems that his wish for that would not be answered. He approached them, turning to look from Kurama to Natsume.

"Hello, Kurama." He was not going to use the human name Kurama had simply because it was there. Perhaps if he ignored it, it would take a hint.

Kurama smiled at him. "Hello, Hiei."

Natsume smiled as well. "Oh, hello, Hiei. It is nice to see you again."

He did not even bother to look at her, tossing her a mere "Hn."

There was a pause as Hiei and Kurama came to a realization that Natsume could not, and the girl simply took out her water bottle again to take in some more water. An awkward breeze ruffled the hair of the three of them, and a cold feeling pressed on them.

Kurama turned to look at her. "Natsume, watch--"

It was a bit too late. Her eyes jolted with surprise, and she collapsed onto the ground, revealing a tall figure with a deep red, musty cloak behind her. The cloak concealed its face, and held a large staff in long, bony hands that were covered with scaly blue flesh. It growled as it turned to look at Hiei and Kurama and approached them.

Kurama turned to look at Hiei, drawing out his rosewhip. "A friend of yours, Hiei?"

Hiei sneered. "Like hell he is. Let's just get this over with."


	5. Phantom

The phantom being in a cloak seemed to advert being hit extremely well. For all of their combined strikes they had only managed to hit it once which was likely due to the fact that it literally teleported from one spot to the next with a distinct hissing noise. For a demon with such a power it certainly had quite a few disadvantages. It had very low stamina which was made clear when it completely lost its hand from a slight scratch that just barely made contact with the skin. It also was very slow when it came to attacking which meant that neither Hiei nor Kurama suffered any damage from the mischievous annoyance.

It was clear that all the demon could do was run away when the rosewhip tangled among what were most likely legs and shortened the stature of the demon by at least two feet. Its legs disappeared with an awful hissing noise accompanied by a black fading mist that seemed to be disintegrating flesh. It was then that the phantom decided to retreat and appeared above the forgotten third party. Natsume was utterly defenseless and disappeared in the hissing noise only to reappear a few moments later deeper into the park.

Kurama and Hiei were not all that happy about the new unassigned mission, but it was rather obvious that it was somehow their responsibility in assuring that the human girl was not harmed by the obnoxious and probably low class demon. They did not need to exchange glances to know that they would have to chase after the nuisance and dispose of it.

It was rather annoying how he had to chase after the simply annoying demon in order to protect someone that he honestly could not really care about. In fact, it was no secret that he partly wished that she would die but it was not worth the lecture he would receive from Kuwabara of all people later, possibly even Yusuke, which he simply hated hearing about. Botan was simply too afraid of him to bring it up, and Kurama may or may not bring it up to him as it depended on the circumstances. It just happened that this would probably have been one of them, since she had nothing to do with it except for her supposed relation to them, and therefore should not be left to die.

By the time they were level with the cloaked scum, it was evident that Hiei was borderline losing his temper. Pest control was hardly his idea of a good morning, if he would ever admit to thinking that mornings were all that pleasant in the first place, and the last thing he needed was an excuse to speak with Natsume. He was becoming brasher, if not quicker, and with a remarkably short reaction time he threw his sword at the fleeing demon. It was instantly impaled against a tree that started from the impact and vanished completely in the black hiss. The girl fell with the thud to the ground and the two demons gathered around her to survey the damage. She landed face down on the ground from a height of a few feet, likely due to the way she was carried through the trees in the park, so that Kurama had to turn her over to see how she was.

Blood trickled down from her nose, although it didn't appear to be broken, and it seemed to cause her to stir. Her arm started to move and she groaned as a stream of red fluid spread onto the grass from the side of her face.

The two exchanged glances as they turned to look at her. They had not made any plans for an explanation yet, which would undoubtedly be needed to explain how she got from standing on a sidewalk to lying on the ground with a bloody nose in the middle of the park without using the words demon, kidnap, or teleport. She started to blink, murmuring some name under her breath.

"Did she say Hayate?" Kurama asked, not even bothering to look at Hiei as it seemed to be an absent minded observation. Hiei, on the other hand, did not respond to the comment for a lack of caring about the answer.

Natsume responded to the name coming to a steadier steam of consciousness. "Hayate? What?"

Kurama chuckled a little under his breath at the mistake. "No, sorry. Shuiichi Minamino."

Natsume sat up still in somewhat of a daze. Her eyes widened as she seemed to realize that something wasn't right and she pressed a hand to her nose to catch the blood. She seemed mildly confused as she muttered, "Shuiichi? How did I...?" but was unable to finish her sentence. Instead she had another question. "Why am I bleeding?"

Kurama raised an eyebrow at her and Hiei turned to look at the two to see what Kurama could possibly come up with. "You don't remember?" he asked her cooly.

She could not have looked more confused. "No, I suppose I don't." The blood continued to stream down her face, and she took off her jacket to add pressure to her nose.

Kurama nodded slowly. "Well, you were racing my friend Hiei through the park and tripped on that root over there." He paused as she looked for the root, apparently spotting it soon enough. "You must have been exhausted because you passed out as soon as you hit the ground."

Hiei almost snickered. She bought every word of the sly little story. Not even an ounce of it was true and the odds of him ever consenting to race with her was completely preposterous. He was in quite the good mood until Kurama's conversation with the annoyance continued.

"How are you feeling? Are you tired?" He asked her casually.

She shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine." She stood up rather slowly.

Kurama turned to look at Hiei with a somewhat malicious look in his eye under his rather calm disposition. "Perhaps Hiei should carry you home."

A sharp glare formed on Hiei's face as he stared back at Kurama. That was completely out of the question. He would have answered this time, but of course Natsume beat him to it. "I don't think that will be necessary. I can walk."

Kurama nodded. "I think it would be a good idea for you to go home."

Natsume stood up after the flow of blood seemed to stop. "Yeah." She paused, glancing around at where she was. "I'm not familiar with this area."

Kurama smiled, although Hiei noted that he had trouble seeing whether or not the smile was sincere or not. "I suppose that we should escort you then."

Natsume smiled at the two of them. "That would be nice. I enjoy your company." She looked from Kurama over to Hiei. Hiei raised an eyebrow at her, and glanced at Kurama. Was she really that thick that she didn't read his general attitude towards her? Nevertheless he usually spent his time with Kurama and she would be gone soon anyway. He turned back to look at her with a simple "Hn" that she might not have been able to hear. She smiled and waited for Kurama to walk ahead before she followed him and Hiei naturally walked on the other side of Kurama.

She was much quieter than their last encounter which was much more tolerable than before. He could have cared less why she wasn't speaking as much but the point was that she was silent until they reached the edge of the park. The group of three stopped near a bench as Kurama turned to look down the street.

"You are familiar with this area I presume?" he asked her as he glanced over at her.

She nodded in response and pointed left. "It isn't far this way." Kurama nodded as Hiei glanced away and they all continued in the direction that she pointed in.

Kurama was the one to break the silence again. "You are rather quiet."

Natsume turned to look at the two of them. "I think I am just bothered that I don't remember anything." She paused again before she looked at Hiei. "Do you think that I could race you again sometime?"

He almost bit her. "Doubt it," he replied cooly. He seriously doubted that a human would ever be able to catch up with his speed since it was naturally inhuman. Her eyes wouldn't even allow her to see him if he moved as fast has he could possibly go so it was no real contest in the first place.

Kurama wasn't that particularly fond of her either but he wasn't going to let Hiei kill her either. "Hiei is much faster than I am. I am afraid that you could not be able to keep up with him." Natsume and Hiei both turned to look at Kurama this time.

The story from before made sense to Hiei now. It seems that she had just raced Kurama and apparently beat him. He certainly had not expected that she would be a close match to Kurama, but he admitted that it was not incomprehensible. However, there was no way she would ever be faster than him, just Kurama.

Natsume interrupted his thoughts. "Are you that much faster than Shuiichi, Hiei?"

He didn't particularly like her addressing him directly. Then again, he preferred it to being talked about while he was there but it was only by a little. "Yes," he answered haughtily.

"That's impressive. I had no idea you were such a speed demon," she said with a smile. He grinned slightly at the interesting choice of words, but there was no way she actually understood the irony of that statement. A few steps more and the three were at her home.

She stopped to turn around and look at them. "Thank you for walking me home Hiei. Shuiichi." She looked at her watch and then glanced at them again. "Would you like to come inside?"

Kurama didn't need to look at Hiei to know that there was a frown of disapproval on his face. This time Hiei spoke up and flatly answered, "No." Kurama complied with the wishes of his friend. "Perhaps another time. I'm afraid that I must return home myself."

Natsume nodded. "Alright. Well, I'll see you two around." The door closed behind her and the two were alone again.

"I thought she would never leave," Hiei muttered.

Kurama grinned. "I wasn't aware Natsume bothered you that much, Hiei."

Hiei's eyes averted Kurama's as he could guess that Kurama was giving that mischievous grin again that provoked him far too easily. "Most give up after a while. She just keeps going."

"I thought you liked persistence in others. She seems to be just your type, Hiei."

That was pushing the limit a little. It was far too easy to push his buttons and he nearly erupted at Kurama. "Just what is that supposed to mean?"

"You let her get under your skin far too easily."

He certainly wasn't going to admit to that out loud. Instead he said nothing and let the conversation end completely.


	6. Sorrow

A few weeks later Hiei found himself among his comrades again at a different restaurant. Instead of a booth there were chairs and the tables had a more formal appearance to them than the other place. The colors seemed to be darker and the lights were dimmer, and he noticed that most of the other groups were actually pairs of only two.

However unlucky for him, they were all seated near the entrance to the place, and so half of the people that entered passed right by him with their pointless chatting. Some of them looked at him while they waited to be seated. Sometimes he ignored them but other times he would look at them with a hint of a glare that clearly showed how he didn't want to be bothered by people looking at him.

He ordered for himself this time something that he hoped would be spicier than the last time as he happily noticed that there were more vacant tables around their own. He was about to turn his attention to Yusuke as he definitely heard that whisper about how short he was and his temper was probably compensating for something when he noticed another annoyance approaching him.

Kurama smiled as Natsume who approached them with a young man her age. She smiled brightly at the group and waved with one hand, the other intertwined with the hand of the boy who accompanied her, while he seemed distracted over anything else. Kurama waved back before greeting her. "Hello, Natsume. It is nice to see you here."

Natsume smiled back. "It is nice to see you here as well, Shuiichi. Hiei."

He gave her a side glance and a simple "Hn" under his breath before avoiding her eyes completely. However, she didn't seem to notice this and continued speaking to them. "This is Hayate," she said, indicating the young man next to her. The young man smiled and nodded at Kurama and Hiei with a casual and somewhat hushed "Pleased to meet you."

Hiei ignored the rest of the introductions. Brilliant, she was now familiar with not only himself and Kurama, but now she was friendly with Yusuke, Kuwabara, Botan and Keiko who seemed more than pleased to speak to another girl. It wasn't until Natsume and Hayate left and sat at one of the previously vacant tables that Hiei drifted back to paying slight attention to his allies.

"She seems nice," Keiko said, glancing at Yusuke who shrugged. He merely replied, "Yeah, I guess."

Botan turned to look at Kurama, not willing to address Hiei on the situation directly. "She seemed to know you. Is she a friend of yours?"

Kurama shook his head. "No, I'm afraid that I do not know her well." he paused before continuing, almost as if for emphasis. "Hiei seems to be friendly with her however."

Hiei jerked to face the maker of the devious implication that he would associate with _that_. "Excuse me?"

Yusuke apparently decided that this was a great topic to poke fun at him for. "What's wrong? Bitter that you lost her to that kid over there?"

Hiei crossed his arms. "As if that would ever happen," he muttered coldly.

Kuwabara decided to jump on him this time. "Oh? Think you could handle a human girl, shorty?"

Hiei shot a sharp glare at him. "Ha. If I ever wanted to."

Kuwabara raised en eyebrow at him in disbelief. "Come on, you must like some human girls."

"Not that it is any of your business, you gigantic moron," he retorted. "At least I can keep in my pants."

Yusuke snickered at this while Kurama chuckled silently to himself. Kuwabara was less than amused and frowned at him. "At least I have something in my pants." It was clearly a reference to the conversation before where Yusuke implied that he had been "overcompensating" with his personality. He narrowed his eyes right back at Kuwabara. He could keep at this all day and not reveal a thing. "Oh, and as if your sword isn't compensating."

Botan didn't seem to like where the conversation was headed and quickly changed the subject inquiring about how the food was there and if that couple was sitting before they were because they already had food. It wasn't long until their food actually did arrive and the group was generally more quiet. Keiko shot a glare at Yusuke, which was not that out of the ordinary, who sported a look that was far too innocent to be sincere.

Soon Botan stopped eating and tapped Keiko on the shoulder. Keiko's generally cheerful expression faded as she looked in front of her, and Botan leaned over to speak to Kurama. "Your friend over there..."

Hiei glanced in wonder of what the hell they were all looking at to spot Natsume and Hayate. They were apparently not enjoying their dinner as she looked at him with a rather pained expression. In contrast his expression was rather serious and he placed his napkin on the table before walking away. She watched him leave before bringing a hand to her face and staring back down at her plate.

It was definitely an expression that he had never seen her wear before which is perhaps why he did not look away. It was very interesting to see that someone who was so obnoxiously cheerful all of the damn time could look like that. However, at the same time, it did not make her any more tolerable than when she was pestering him. Somehow it was worse, and it was just annoying.

It wasn't long until she seemed to be crying, although rather silently, which was almost impossibly more annoying. It was an emotion he never particularly liked dealing with and it always seemed to test his temper. Botan and Keiko stood up and pulled up seats over to sit with her. They didn't seem to be saying much to her, either, but just sat with her.

He looked away and from them and stared at his food. The rest of his company was awkwardly silent for the rest of the meal.


	7. Competetive

Mist filled the air around the trees. It seemed that it would rain again sometime soon as it had appeared for the entire day. Most people did not venture out to the park that day and Hiei found that he could walk around without being disturbed for the most part. Kurama seemed to think the same thing so that it would be a good time to discuss anything that normal humans should not overhear.

"There seems to be another problem with the barrier," Kurama simply stated as they approached more open areas of the park where the trees were less dense. It did not matter much what they spoke about since no one else was around to hear it. He did not expect nor want a reply and so he continued speaking to his friend. "KoEnma has not brought up the topic to a full extent so it would seem that he does not know what the problem actually is."

Hiei laughed under his breath at this. Quite a few things were possible and it was likely that Kurama already thought of most of the probable scenarios. "He doesn't say anything to us unless necessary." He paused to turn to face Kurama. "Until he does we don't have to deal with it."

Kurama turned to look down at Hiei and then looked away from him before he spoke. He usually tried to make eye contact with someone he knew before a disagreement emerged from his lips. "It would be nice to see a resolution before the problem is too serious."

Hiei avoided looking at him, but took a breath before he replied. Their disagreements usually were not very feverishly discussed, unlike with his other teammates. "It may be nothing. Some demons are able to slip through."

Kurama silently sighed. In conversation it usually meant that he agreed to some extent or he was contemplating something that had not been resolved in his head. "Usually not to this extent. I suppose we just have to wait and see." Despite his nearly unrivaled patience he did not like to be kept waiting for information very often. Hiei would not reply to this and so the conversation was over.

It was then that they both noticed some noises coming from somewhere near them. There were occasional footsteps of someone running followed by a few loud hits. A turn in the path lead both of them to find Natsume in the tennis courts. She slowed down as they came into view catching one of the green balls that just bounced off of the wall.

It was inevitable to interact with her now. Hiei, of course, frowned. "You are just everywhere aren't you," he said rather coldly.

Kurama was friendlier and nodded to her politely. "Hello, Natsume." Natsume stared at them with a somewhat blank expression before smiling a little too brightly.

It was a brief smile and she dropped a moment before she addressed them. "Hello."

Kurama looked down at the bag that was placed at the edge of the courts as he scanned the area. "You play tennis as well?"

She was about to resume her solo practice but stopped to look at Kurama again. "A little." She threw the ball in the air and hit it towards the fence wall. It bounced off and came back to her and she bounced it off of the wall again. "Do you play?" she asked as she continued hitting it against the wall.

"Not outside of school," he replied. She bounced it off of the wall again before she caught it and turned to look at them. "Why don't we play a game?" she asked.

Kurama turned to look at Hiei, who didn't seem to be too pissed off, before he answered her. He did not have anything to do and did not oppose the exercise. "I suppose we could. Do you have enough rackets?" he asked as he approached the door to the court to open it. Hiei followed him although he was hesitant in doing so. He had no intention of deserting Kurama becuase of it.

She briskly walked over to the gym bag that was lying on the ground and pulled out two cases. She paused before she took the rackets out and approached the two of them. "This one is my spare," she said to Kurama as she handed it to him. "I haven't used it that much so it may not be in the best condition."

Kurama shook his head. "No, it is fine enough."

Natsume glanced at Hiei and held out the other racket to him. "This one belongs to.. someone else." He looked at it for a moment before grabbing it. Normally he would be opposed to playing but he would not pass up the chance to beat her in her own game. It would be the perfect way to exert his annoyance at her. KoEnma could not possibly get im for beating someone in _tennis_. He received a cautious look from Kurama which probably meant that he was warning against Hiei using any slightly demonic abilities. He gave Kurama a "Hn" under his breath that told him he had nothing to worry. He turned away and walked over toward one side of the court. He was on the same side as Kurama but opposite of Natsume.

He snickered at this. "You? Against the two of us?" he asked. She simply nodded. "Yes. Are you two familiar with the official rules?"

Kurama shook his head. "No, I am afraid not."

She just nodded. "First to ten wins. No hitting out of bounds and the ball cannot bounce more than once." Without waiting for a response she threw the ball into the air and hit it. It bounced beside Kurama who hit it back rather gracefully. She ran a short distance before hitting it again with nearly twice the original speed that forced Kurama to go a little more out of his way before he could hit it again.

She missed it this time and it bounced outside of the line. She ran to catch it afterwards and turned to look at them. Kurama smiled pleasantly which allowed Hiei to recognize that they had just scored against her. He had never played but now seemed to have an understanding of the rules. She tossed it into the air against and hit it over. It bounced near Hiei on the white line and then went out of bounds. Natsume smiled faintly at this, although Hiei was certainly not very pleased.

He picked up the ball and hit it briskly. It soared over the net rather quickly at her although she returned it fairly easily. The ball headed towards Kurama but Hiei was determined to hit it and ran over despite the fact that he knew Kurama would be able to hit it back easily.

She looked surprised at this action but returned the ball to his side anyway. He was going to make it harder for her at this point to get any more points past him. She started having to run farther distances just to hit the ball never mind getting it back over the net. She nearly missed it a few times but to his annoyance she rarely did.

After a while she had eight points while he had only five. He decided to change his tactics a little and tried to get as close to the line as possible to make it go as far out of bounds as possible. He was putting more effort into the activity than he ever planned to. She was also starting to get tired and breathed more heavily, although neither one seemed to notice that Kurama did not even try to hit the ball anymore but decided to sit down against the fence. It was plain to see that he was thoroughly amused by their little skirmish.

He scored another point on her which did not seem to make her so pleased. She was as focused as he was although she did not sport the serious frown that he did. He started putting significantly more effort into it, even bothering to run to the other side of the court and put a little overhand spin on it to make the ball bounce in the opposite direction. Another point and the score was now eight to seven with Natsume in the lead.

She seemed to be rather aggressive now and sent the ball to the corner of his side of the court with a very low trajectory. It bounced again, indicating that she scored against him once more. One more point and she would beat him. He certainly was not going to let _that_ happen. He hit the ball over to her side, and from the distance she had to travel and the speed that he gave it there was no way that he thought she could hit it back.

But she did, and that was it. He hit it once more and sent the ball onto her side with such speed that it bounced on the back line and rammed into the fence of a wall behind her. She had an expression of complete shock as she turned to look where it hit to find the fence bent with a slightly deformed green mass lodged inside of it. Hiei was thoroughly amused with himself, although Kurama at that point was less than pleased.

She stared at the wall a while before turning to look back at Hiei. "That... is impressive," she stated almost as if she were mentally somewhere else.

He smirked to himself. There was simply no way she could understand why he was so much faster than her, and he seemed to like to dangle it in her face. "Yes. I am fast."

She seemed to accept defeat by walking over to her bag how ever slowly. "You must have worked... very hard... to be that fast," she said between breaths. "That's amazing." She sounded defeated, although not sour.

She pulled out a water bottle and leaned against the fence near where Kurama was sitting and turned to look at him. "You did not play, Shuiichi?"

Kurama shook his head. "No. I thought it would be a fair match if I did not participate." He turned to look at Hiei, smiling about something. Hiei approached the two and carelessly dropped the racket in front of her without saying anything.

Natsume looked up at the standing Hiei. "You aren't tired? Not even a little?"

"No. That didn't take that much effort," he replied. She seemed to be between slight shock and exhaustion.

Kurama smiled at both of them. "I noticed, Hiei, that you exerted yourself more than you usually do."

He earned a glare from Hiei who merely muttered "Hn." Natsume stared at the racket in front of her in silence. Kurama turned to glance at her and seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. There was an awkward silence that lasted for an undefined amount of time as they all avoided eye contact with each other.

She pulled her knees up near her chest as her eyes fell to the ground in front of her. Their attention was taken away from her as they both noticed something that Natsume could not have. They glanced at each other as they tried to find a way to discuss it without Natsume overhearing them.

Natsume brought her water bottle to her mouth as something bloomed in the grass. A strange and heavy pollen filled the air a few moments later. It settled rather quickly and caused the three of them to pause as they looked around.

Hiei promptly drew out his sword and Kurama stood up but as the strange blossom from the grass sprouted legs and approached them they both fell into a deep sleep.


	8. Conscious

The plant thing was starting to climb over the fence with leafy green legs and Natsume could only assume that it was headed towards the two that had been knocked out. This of course brought attention to the fact that she didn't faint, although she could not put her mind on why. She was certainly the most exhausted, although she seemed to gain some of her energy back after drinking some water and resting.

Water. She was drinking water and not breathing. The pollen, which was the apparent cause to the sudden sleeping spell, was heavy and seemed to settle down.

The plant monster, whatever it was, scurried down the side of the fence she was on and headed towards the two that were sleeping as leafy arms extended. The thing was ignoring her completely, but the thorny arms seemed to be ready to attack rather than revive.

She could panic. Panicing sounded rather good at that moment, but there was something more important: some mutated flower was going to attack two new aquantances that she rather liked and the only thing she had was a water bottle and a tennis racket.

Her eyes fell down to Hiei, asleep but holding a sword. Oh, he would definitely mind if she borrowed that. Why he was carries a sword around was something to be worried about, perhaps, but it wasn't the right time for that. She darted over to him and picked it out of his hands. She was armed now, which was significantly more comforting, but she did not know what to expect next. She had never fenced before: she mainly stuck to track with a little bit of tennis on the side.

Well, she could throw a javelin. It was at least something she was familiar with and so she tossed the sword at the plant-like thing. It seemed to recognize her as a threat now instead of praying on the two as victims by using one of the arms to tap the blade aside. It clanged as it hit the ground not far from her, and she ran to pick it up.

She needed a new plan. It did not matter how far she could throw it if it was smart enough to effectively block a spear that would have landed mostly vertically. However, it was not so intelligent to turn the projectile against her, so perhaps she would be fine close range.

Running should be put to use instead. She bent her knees before taking off and aiming a low slash at the monster. The intention was to run past it, but it dodged her too quickly. She pivoted easily and ran at it again. This time she cut a few leaves off but it was not nearly as effective as she wanted it to be. She would have to chase it and play less defensive since the unknown thing did not seem to take the offense yet.

She ran after it, following it with low slashes in attempt to hit something vital. It was relatively fast and every time she aimed to stop right in front of it to hit it she was always one step behind where she wanted to be.

A few leaves were cut loose from the plant to no real progress but at the very least no one had been harmed yet. Chasing after the plant seemed to be almost pointless, unless of course one of the two would wake up soon. If she could stall it until one of them became conscious perhaps it could be disposed of more easily. After all, she speculated that Hiei carried around a sword for a reason. If not, perhaps she should avoid him, although being different was never a bad thing. It was nice to meet someone relatively different for a change.

She started jumping before she took a strike at it, gaining some advantage with a distance as she tried to land on top of it. She did not want to waste too much energy and narrowly missed the legs of the plant a few times before she nailed it down on the pavement. It collapsed in shock of the impact and she at it temporarily immobilized.

This presented a new opportunity. She twisted the blade in an attempt to keep it at her mercy for a few seconds longer before she pulled the katana out and made a slash for the center of the rather large blossom. She probably would have destroyed it if several vines did not emerge from the center of the flower to provide a barrier between the katana and a likely vital spot.

The vines were easily cut by the blade but seemed to continue to grow out from the monster of a plant. It was evidently done messing around with her at this point. Several vines started to move towards her. She backed up as quickly as she could but as the plant came nearer she concluded that it would not be enough to just run away from it.

Vines were ready to continually thrash her, aiming at her one at a time. She slashed at the vines, merely blocking a few strikes at first before she managed to hack off some of the tips. It took a while for her to get the hang of maneuvering a sword but the monster seemed to have a definite rythm that she could follow. Soon she could guess where the vines that would hit her would come from next and chop them off with more confidence.

It was time for a change. Instead of backing up when necessary she started to run forward, slashing away the vines that continued to follow the definite attack pattern from before. It was harder to cut them all off before they reached her because she was moving now, and she found that in the process she earned a few cuts and scratches.

Of course the demon flower was not done yet. As soon as she approached it large yellow poreous spheres were launched at her from the center of the blossom. She had the luck of avoiding the first one by poor aim and immidiately backed away from it. The strange yellow object seemed to burn the surroundings it landed on which raised a new level of fear: it was the first time that it occured to her that her life could be in danger.

She continued to run around the court, avoiding the strange objects and deflecting a few when dodging was not enough. It was then that the rain started to come down, and it was harder to move as fast when the ground started to dampen. She had to deflect an increasing number of yellow objects, trying to aim a few back at the flower.

She singed one of the petals. She actually hit it. It doubled backwards before increasing the amount of projectiles aimed at her. What was a drizzle a few moments ago turned into a downpour. Natsume was too focused on the plant to notice that Kurama and Hiei begun to stir.

As they slowly regained consciousness the current fight came into focus. It was midly confusing to wake up to the rain pouring down and seeing Natsume fighting with something that was clearly uncomfortable for her to do so. She was using Hiei's sword, no less.

Of course, the demonic plant was done messing with her. In ceased fire after it managed to have another petal singed and shook violently for a few moments before entagling Natsume in a rush of vines. She dropped the sword instantaneously as a rather loud scream escaped her that forced Hiei to cover his ears. Could she possibly be more annoying?

The vines started to constrict around her as she seemed to try to shake herself loose. The vines wrapped around her more tightly and she started to cave into the pain as her knees started to droop.

That was enough. A second later and Kurama's rosewhip left the thing in a pulp. The vines fell lifelessly to the pavement of the courts. Natsume took a large breath of air as she hit the ground as well.

It was rather pointless not to talk about demons in front of her now. She picked up Hiei's sword before standing up and walking over to the two of them. He looked up at her with a glare in his eye. "What were you doing with that?"

She smiled warmly for a moment before taking on a more serious expression. "I'm sorry. I did not know what else to use." She held it out to him.

He took it and sheathed it somewhat hastily. "Why didn't you run away? You stupid human," he scolded.

Her eyes widened for a second as she came to realize something. "You aren't human."

Hiei sneered. "Ha. It took you long enough to figure it out," he said cooly. "Next time you run into a demon, you run away."

"Then why didn't you try to kill me?" she asked.

"I am not that type of demon. That was a low rank, probably a D-class."

"What class are you."

He smirked, somewhat cockily. "A-class."

"Is your speed naturally superhuman?"

"Ha. That's one way to explain it."

"The race I had against you."

"Like hell you did."

Kurama stepped forward. "It would be better if we did not continue like this. There are more important matters to deal with."

Natsume glanced at the remains of the plant. Somethat that had given her so much trouble was easily discarded by just one of them in a matter of seconds. She turned to look at Kurama. "What sort of matters?"

Kurama was hesitant to reply. "More demons are slipping past the barrier than there should be. There is also the problem that you now have memories of the attack." There was a short pause. "That can be dealt with of course."

Natsume was hesitant to reply. "What do you mean by that?"

"Your memory is going to be erased. You will forget all about the last few hours and will not have to concern yourself with demons again." In his hands Kurama held a small seed-like object.

He approached her, but she stepped back. "Don't I have a say in this?"

It was much easier to deal with these troubles when the other person was not awake. "Naturally, yes, but it would be in your benefit not to remember. With less association with either of us you will not be in danger of another attack."

"I have been attacked twice by association," she replied. "I am already in danger of that. I would rather be aware of it."

He was about to speak again, but she started first. "I understand your concern, but my mind was made up before I knew it was a possibility to erase my memory. I would rather know what is going on than be left in the dark. Please understand."

He sighed as he closed his eyes. He disagreed with her decision, but he could not choose for her this time. "Very well."

She paused before turning to look at him again. "There was a rumor about strange thing happening around the playground by the school. I never went to check it out but... perhaps you should."

He looked at her before he nodded silently. "Thank you." Afterwards she parted ways with them.

Hiei turned to glance at Kurama. "Well? Are we going to go there or not?"

Kurama nodded solemnly. "Yes."

* * *

How does this make me feel? I don't know. I keep wondering how realistic she seems. I was trying to make her seem human with a balance of flaws and strengths, but I do not really have any idea how I am doing with that part of it. I want to know how people react to her:

Is she annoying? Does she seem friendly? Is she amusing? What do you interpret her to be like?


End file.
